Xiao Li seemed to read my mind. She sighed. “Whenever he got mad, he didn’t let anybody enter his room. He would lock himself inside. I’ve tried to sneak in to clean the room, but he hit me and shooed me out. Eventually, I stopped caring about him.”

“Please clean the room now. Open all the windows and the door to ventilate this place.” I didn’t know what to tell her, so I asked her to clean the room then left.

As soon as we got out of the room, Li Mazi dramatically took in the fresh air. “What a stinky room!”

“I keep getting the feeling that something is wrong here. We should be more careful,” I told Li Mazi.

It took Xiao Li two hours to clean Yuan Datou’s room. Although she had opened the windows for ventilation, we still smelled the stench when we entered the room again. However, it was not as unbearable as before.

I took out a Soul Stabilizing Talisman I had drawn beforehand and adhered it on Yuan Datou’s forehead. I did that to prevent him from going out of control again.

Then, I lifted his eyelids and used a magnifying glass to check his eyes. I was shocked at first glance. His pupils were dilated. Dense, brown-red spots had grown inside his eyelids. Some of them already had pus.

If things continued this way, he would die in less than two days!

I immediately asked Xiao Li to go to a Chinese herbal pharmacy to buy supplement foods with great nutritional value. Then, Li Mazi and I sprinkled willow ashes on the carpeted floor.

Willow ashes were good for attracting spirits. If a ghost came here, it would leave footprints on the ashes.

However, some strong ghosts could use the wind to blow away the ashes. That was why I had asked Li Mazi to drip black dog blood on the ashes. It would give more Yang energy to the ashes and prevent them from being blown away.

A moment later, Xiao Li came with a bowl of soup cooked with ginseng from Mount Changbai and forcefully fed Yuan Datou.

“What should I do next?” she asked.

“Now, we wait.” I was a little anxious.

I gave Li Mazi and Xiao Li some talismans and asked them to wait. If something happened in the room, we would storm in and attack with the talismans. I had drawn these talismans, and although their power couldn’t be compared to Chuyi’s talismans, they were still useful.

Li Mazi received the talismans and put them in his pocket. Then, he sat in the living room and watched TV as if nothing had happened. His eyes purposely lingered on Xiao Li’s breasts.

I felt that we had to quickly finish this case so that I could take him back to Ru Xue. Otherwise, this fellow could commit a crime!

Xiao Li carefully put away the talisman, asking, “What are you going to do tonight?”

She noticed that my willow ashes did nothing.

“In our business, before we deal with the otherworldly item, we have to know its origin and prepare the right treatment. Then, we can either help the soul ascend or simply subdue it. Your husband’s situation is special. He’s not just being pestered by a departed soul. We need to know more about the case.”

She nodded and said nothing.

Li Mazi couldn’t find any program he liked, so he switched off the TV. The three of us sat in the living room, waiting for the night to come.

The room was filled with the ticking sound from the table clock. Soon, it was midnight. I turned off the lights and carefully watched Yuan Datou’s room.

The mist around the door had grown thicker. It had covered the entire door. It seemed that thing wanted to come out.

Li Mazi was sleepy. He yawned and asked, “Has anything happened yet? Otherwise, I’m going to sleep.”

“Stop talking. Shh…” I lowered my voice and asked Xiao Li, “Do you have any spicy ingredients in your house? Garlic and onion are good.”

Yuan Datou would always stay in his room, even when he needed to urinate. This had something to do with the departed soul. Garlic and onion could protect from evil spirits and produce unbelievable effects at times.

Xiao Li was surprised. “Yes, I’ll get some for you.” She went to the kitchen and fetched some onions.

“Each of you should keep one just in case.”

I put the onion in my pocket and continued to watch the door. Surprisingly, the dark mist was gone. At the same time, we heard someone walking around in the room.

“Let’s go!” I hissed.

Li Mazi and Xiao Li returned to their senses and became tense.

Less than one minute later, a tender male voice came from the room. “Xiya, why have you come again?”

That voice spoke in a Northeastern dialect and had the roughness of a bandit. Xiao Li told me it wasn’t Yuan Datou’s voice.

“A wife should go wherever her husband is. Wherever you go, I’ll follow you.” A female voice arose.

My heart sank. My guess was correct.

However, from Li Mazi’s and Xiao Li’s reactions, it seemed they didn’t hear the woman’s voice.

A moment later, Yuan Datou talked again. “I’m not who I used to be. My bad reputation has spread everywhere, and people blame me for being a traitor. Why do you need to do this?”

“I don’t care. Ever since you redeemed me from the Eight Great Streets, my heart belonged to you. I don’t care if you are a traitor or a bandit. I’ll always love you,” said the woman stubbornly. Her voice contained happiness.

While listening to their conversation, I guessed the spirit possessing Yuan Datou was a traitor during the war of resistance against the Japanese, and the woman was from Beijing’s Eight Great Streets—a famous red-light district. The traitor had redeemed her, and their love grew from there.

I gestured to Li Mazi and asked him to go upstairs with me.

After we approached the door, I carefully pushed it little by little. I planned to enter the room discreetly.

However, as soon as I opened the door, a strong wind arose from the room. It carried a powerful suction force and drew Li Mazi and me into the room. The door closed behind us.

Feeling bewildered, I turned to look at the bed. Yuan Datou was sitting on the edge of the bed, angrily looking at me.

He looked as if he wished to tear me apart. A faintly discernible figure in red was kneeling beside the bed. She looked at Yuan Datou with loving eyes and didn’t seem to notice our arrival.

“Get lost!”

Yuan Datou opened his mouth and roared like a tiger. The gentleness from before was gone.

After he shouted, the red shadow beside the bed reacted. She turned to look at us, her face in a daze.

When I glanced at the red shadow, I was stunned. She was a true beauty. She wore a red cheongsam and had soft skin and big eyes.

She had lived during the resistance war, but even in this modern era, she would be a Goddess!

However, the happy atmosphere didn’t last long. After the woman saw us, she suddenly aged. Right before our eyes, she started to grow wrinkles all over her body.

Her eyes began to bulge, and she stuck out her tongue. She looked like a ghost that had hung herself. I noticed a ring of bruises on her neck.

“Damn! Let’s run!” I yelled at Li Mazi before bolting away.

Female ghosts wearing red clothes were the most powerful type of ghosts. Moreover, the one we saw had hung herself. I knew I wasn’t her opponent; I had to retreat first.

However, I was surprised to see that the mist had reappeared and shrouded the door.

Even stranger, when I tried to reach for the doorknob, I couldn’t find it.

At this moment, Li Mazi suddenly retched. Before I could check on him, I smelled a stench from the mist.

It smelled like the master stock people used to make stinky tofu. At the same time, I also smelled rotten corpses.

I didn’t know how to describe this smell. However, after inhaling it, I felt my brain lacking oxygen and couldn’t help but convulse.

I tried to ignore the pain in my head and took out the onion from my pocket. I bit it without peeling it, chewing and swallowing it.

When the spicy taste filled my mouth, my consciousness became clearer. I resumed my actions.

I turned to my side and saw Li Mazi on the ground. I hurried to tear some onion and shoved it into his mouth, making him chew it. Fortunately, Li Mazi’s mind was still clear. He listened to me and chewed the onion, which allowed him to recover.

I got up and blew at the door. My stinky onion breath was like the archenemy of the black mist. It caused the mist to disperse.

However, when I stopped blowing my breaths, the black mist returned to cover the door. Anyway, I knew what to do now. Li Mazi also noticed the power of the onion. Learning from me, he started to blow at the door.

We carefully moved forward. Eventually, I blew away the mist at the doorknob.

But before I could open the door, I heard Xiao Li screaming for help behind us.

I took out the spirit talisman and prepared to strike. But when I turned around, I saw that Yuan Datou had already captured Xiao Li. He was strangling the woman.

He smiled arrogantly at me. “If you run, I’ll strangle her to death.”

My scalp went numb. Looking at Yuan Datou’s malicious face, he wasn’t joking.

After struggling for a short moment, I reluctantly let go of the doorknob.

“What do you want?” I asked coldly.

“What do I want?”

Yuan Datou sneered and pointed at the talisman I was hiding behind my back. “Hurry, throw that thing away!”

My heart sank. If I threw the talisman away, it wouldn’t be different from committing suicide. However, seeing Xiao Li’s helpless look, I had to listen to him. I slowly let go of the talisman.

However, someone suddenly slapped me, and my whole body shook.

When I regained my focus, I realized Li Mazi was the one who had slapped me.

Li Mazi said nothing and pulled my hand, dragging me downstairs.

After he released me, I asked, “What’s going on?”

“Do you see her?” Li Mazi pointed at Xiao Li, who was sitting on the sofa.

When I saw the woman in front of me, I suddenly understood. Yuan Datou didn’t capture her.

“What happened to me just now?”

Remembering the current situation, I was bewildered.